Your peace of mind rests on how secure your precious metals investments are. Make sure that they can easily be reached during an emergency situation.
An alternative solution would be storing valuables in a safety deposit box at a bank, which are heavily guarded and usually equipped with tamper-proof seals to provide maximum protection.
Private storage facilities provide another viable option for safekeeping your items, often featuring armed security personnel and around-the-clock monitoring.
How much do you want to invest?
For SHTF purposes, the ideal way to store precious metals is in small denominations that easily fit in your pocket. A $100 bill offers enough value to pay for food or services without becoming cumbersome to carry around; one ounce silver coins are approximately the size and value of dime but worth far more.
Precious metals make excellent investments because their value doesn’t rely on profitable businesses or interest-paying bonds to increase. Furthermore, precious metals provide protection from broad economic issues that stocks and bonds may not.
Investment in gold and silver can be costly. Storage fees must be paid to keep them safe, and additional security or home insurance may be needed if you keep them at home. You will also have to pay taxes on any long-term capital gains from precious metal investments; so it is wise to consult a tax professional prior to making significant decisions regarding these precious metal investments.
How much do you need to invest?
Prepping requires understanding your limits of resources, including how much gold or silver you possess. While precious metals don’t produce any cash flows like an income-producing business or bond would, they have proven highly resilient against inflation and currency instability over the long run.
Gold and silver have long been used as money. Being chemically unique, physically rare and malleable metals, they store wealth very efficiently over time – offering investors protection from market volatility, political unrest and currency weakness. Investing in them could provide peace of mind against market fluctuations, political unrest or currency weakness.
When selecting an investment account, always compare fees between accounts carefully. Dealer markups and storage charges may differ drastically between accounts; additionally if investing in physical precious metals be wary of products with high premiums over spot price of raw metals.
How much do you want to spend?
When buying gold and silver bullion physically, you must find somewhere secure to store it. This may involve purchasing a home safe or paying fees to have precious metals stored offsite with security. These expenses could reduce your return significantly.
An effective method for estimating how much physical gold and silver you should own is estimating how many months’ expenses your basic living expenses would cover in a major financial crisis, then multiplying that figure by the necessary number of ounces to last you through that time frame.
Physical gold and silver don’t generate income or cash flows like profitable businesses or interest-bearing bonds do, so their goal should not be used to replace other forms of investments or income sources; they should simply serve as an insurance policy against economic volatility and inflation – providing a way to safeguard retirement portfolios against possible economic volatility or inflationary pressures. Each investor needs to decide what works for their individual situation when investing in precious metals as retirement portfolio diversifiers.
How much do you want to keep?
At home, the most secure precious metal investments are coins and bars from reputable mints (American Silver and Gold Eagles are two great examples). Although their premium is higher, their value tends to hold better since they’re harder to counterfeit and people know and trust them.
Gold is known to resist corrosion and rusting, possess malleability, be conductive to electricity and have high reflective qualities; in addition, its value has been held steady over the millennia due to its rarity. Though gold may be best-known among precious metals, its counterparts like platinum and palladium possess unique attributes as well.
Precious metals won’t provide income like profitable businesses or interest-paying bonds would, but they can serve as an effective hedge against inflation. You should determine your needed amount based on monthly expenses and anticipated duration of crisis situations – try covering at least half your expenses should something arise that necessitates their purchase.
